Everything about -ism totally explained
The
suffix -ism denotes a distinctive system of
beliefs,
myth,
doctrine or
theory that guides a
social movement,
institution,
class or group. For example, baptize (literally derived from "to dip") becomes "
baptism," a distinctive system of cleansing in water for the forgiveness of sins. It is taken from the
Greek suffix
-ismos, Latin -ismus, and Old French -isme, that forms nouns from verbal stems. Greek
baptismos "immersion", for example, is derived from
baptizein, a Greek verb meaning "to immerse". Its usage has since been extended to signify the
ideology or
philosophy surrounding the element to which the suffix is added.
Concepts represented by "ism"
The -ism suffix can be used to express the following concepts:
Many
isms are defined as an act or practice by some, while also being defined as the doctrine or philosophy
behind the act or practice by others. Examples include
activism,
altruism,
despotism,
elitism,
optimism,
sexism and
terrorism.
History
The first recorded usage of the suffix
ism as a separate word in its own right was in
1680. By the nineteenth century it was being used by
Thomas Carlyle to signify a pre-packaged
ideology. It was later used in this sense by such writers as
Julian Huxley and
George Bernard Shaw.
In the United States of the mid-nineteenth century, the phrase "the isms" was used as a collective derogatory term to lump together the radical social reform movements of the day (such as
slavery abolitionism,
feminism,
alcohol prohibitionism,
Fourierism,
pacifism, early
socialism, etc.) and various spiritual or religious movements considered non-mainstream by the standards of the time (such as
Transcendentalism,
spiritualism or "spirit rapping",
Mormonism, the
Oneida movement often accused of "free love", etc.). Southerners often prided themselves on the American South being free from all of these pernicious "Isms" (except for alcohol temperance campaigning, which was compatible with a traditional Protestant focus on strict individual morality). So on
September 5 and
9 1856, the
Examiner newspaper of
Richmond, Virginia ran editorials on "Our Enemies, the Isms and their Purposes", while in
1858 "Parson" Brownlow called for a "Missionary Society of the South, for the Conversion of the Freedom Shriekers, Spiritualists, Free-lovers, Fourierites, and
Infidel Reformers of the North" (see
The Freedom-of-thought Struggle in the Old South by Clement Eaton).
In the present day, it appears in the title of a standard survey of political thought,
Today's ISMS by William Ebenstein, first published in the
1950s, and now in its 11th edition.
Further Information
Get more info on '-ism'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://-ism.totallyexplained.com">-ism Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
